The Jack Of Hearts
by FeralShadowwolf
Summary: When she sees Booth in a new light, can Brennan get through the case without falling for her partner? And who will she choose if it comes down to Sully or Booth? Dr. Brennan must learn that in matters of the heart, logic and science rarely play a part.
1. Hot Flashes

"Working late?" Agent Seeley Booth popped his head around his partner's office door.

Dr. Temperance Brennan glanced up as he sauntered in and then returned her concentration back to the pile of papers on her desk. It was late, the night had already set in and her to-do list wasn't getting any shorter. "As always." She mumbled.

"Had food?" He enquired, peeking over her shoulder to the paperwork which had to be oh-so-important.

"Nope." She replied in an uninterested tone.

"Mutilated body… growing fungus." He read her paperwork aloud. "Bones, what is this stuff?"

Brennan looked up at him. "You know it's rude to read over people's shoulders." Booth just grinned childishly which he knew from experience usually got him out of trouble. Brennan just rolled her eyes. "It's just a study I'm doing."

"Hardly bedtime reading material." Booth observed.

"Did you want something in particular or are you just here to annoy me?" She asked, stacking her papers away.

"A little of both." He smiled. She looked up at him from her chair, waiting for a straight answer. "Come and get something to eat with me."

"I'm busy." She replied, dropping her eyes to her desk once more.

"It's on me." He offered, hanging a free meal above her head hoping she'd accept the offer, and for a moment, she looked thoughtful, but then just resumed her night's work. Booth squatted down beside her to be at eye-level. "Bones, what will it take for you to come with me?"

"Well for one thing, stop calling me Bones." She murmured, then swiveled her chair to look him in the eye, hoping he'd get her serious look. "Booth, go home. I'm fine, see you tomorrow."

He maintained a firm glare and she kept her stubborn, unmoved attitude. This continued for what felt like a long time until Booth's expression softened. "Bones…" He almost whispered.

He leant into her at first uncertainly, but then as he reached her lips, moved confidently. Brennan felt his lips softly massage her own, his soft touch at the back of her neck and on her warm cheek. Brennan felt Booth touch her in a way that felt so natural, so comfortable. Something inside her clicked and suddenly safe and soft became fiery and passionate. Booth's hot breath breezed across her tingling skin. They fell to the floor, entangled in each other's embrace. Brennan couldn't pull away, not now. She had no control, but rendered herself completely to Booth's will. He kissed her once more, engulfing her in his passion –

**xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxox**

Temperance's eyes flew open, jerking awake to a sitting position. She was home, she was in her bed. _A dream_, Brennan breathed, slowing her breath, her heartbeat noticeably above normal. _A dream._

The sun shone through the windows and her alarm clock blinked 10:15am. Saturday. Brennan wiped her sticky forehead, and collapsed back down into the comfort of her pillows.

"Ow!" A voice whined at the impact of her elbow. _Oh God, my dream…_ Sully appeared from underneath the covers. …_Was just a dream. _She breathed a sigh of relief. "Morning." He smiled, eyes still closed.

"Morning." She replied, sounding as dazed as she felt. Sully. Sully was in her bed. _Right, because he's your boyfriend,_ Temperance worked out. _Why wouldn't he be in your bed? I mean, Booth wouldn't be…_She stopped that thought before it went any further.

"You alright?" Sully asked, eyes wide with concern. "You look pale."

"No, I'm fine. Just a, er, dream." She replied, once again having replays of last night's performance occurring in her head, hot flashes raging through her.

"Bad dream?" He asked, rubbing her stomach, which was usually comforting, but now just seemed unwelcome.

"No." She answered, smiling to herself; remembering her feelings of passion, heat, security… Booth's face appeared and she realized how inappropriate it was. "Yes! I mean yes, bad dream. Very bad… dream." She drifted off again. _No! Self control!_ She forced herself.

"Well, I know what'll make you feel better." Sully wriggled closer to her, smiling suggestively.

"I, er, I'm gonna go take a shower." Brennan moved swiftly out of her bed and moved quickly to the bathroom without turning to see Sully's expression.


	2. Uncureable

No matter how hard she tried, images of last night kept replaying in her mind, and Temperance Brennan just couldn't sit there with Sully at breakfast; it was uncomfortable. Therefore, she had decided to go into work, the Jeffersonian her sanctuary of distraction, with a cup of highly caffeinated coffee and the determination to get Booth out of her mind.

She had settled into her office and sat down, arranging her desk before noticing exactly where she was, and exactly where Booth had been… She jumped off her chair and looked to the floor where she and Booth…

Brennan shook it off and sat down again. _Just a dream. Just a dream_. She had been chanting that in her head over and over again, continually fighting for a way for it to sink into her brain. Why Booth? She was happy with Sully, Sully was wonderful. _Obviously Booth was on my mind before I went to sleep and Sully was next me, my conscious must have gotten confused, _she rationalized. Happy to accept her conclusion, Dr. Brennan switched on her computer and began the day's work.

"Dr. Brennan?" Cam walked through to her office, surprised to see anyone working on a Saturday.

"Morning Cam." Brennan faintly smiled.

"What are you doing here, it's a Saturday." Cam asked, arms crossed and leaning on the doorframe. Without realizing it, Brennan began to analyze her physical appearance to maybe find why Booth had been so attracted to her. Cam was tall, had dark hair, scientifically brilliant, much like herself, so why had Booth never looked at Brennan that way? Brennan shook the thought out, convincing herself it was of no importance at all.

"I know. I just thought I'd come in, do some paperwork, get organized." She shrugged. Cam smiled, no doubt thinking that Brennan was possibly to the most organized person she'd ever met. Brennan couldn't deny it, she'd always been the neat and tidy one, though she found it more of a contribution than a burden. _Maybe Booth finds me too compulsive… What is this obsession with what Booth thinks all of a sudden?_ She inwardly sighed. Obviously, this wasn't going to go away easily, maybe what she needed was a little help.

Cam didn't exactly look convinced, but it wasn't in her nature to pry, so she just said, "Ok, I'll be in my office if you need me."

Before she left, Brennan called out, "Cam, can I talk to you for a moment?"

Cam looked surprised, but pulled up the chair opposite Brennan and seemed to want to help. "What can I do?"

Brennan smiled self-consciously, thinking maybe this wasn't the best way for this kinda help. "Well, ok, say I had a dream about someone I didn't expect to dream about and now it's the only thing I can concentrate on. What do I do?"

Cam smiled. "Brennan when you're in love, you tend to think about that person all the time. Sully's a lucky guy, don't worry about it."

"Um, no, you don't understand, it's not Sully." Temperance felt a headache begin to form, one of those tired, migraine type headaches. She squeezed the ridge of her nose trying to find relief, there was none.

"Then who…?" Cam asked, slumping back down in her chair. She caught Brennan's worried look and understood. "Oh." Brennan said nothing. "Oh." Cam repeated.

"What do I do?" Temperance asked, not understanding why one dream would make her feel this confused, it's not like Booth had feelings for her, and even if he had, it's not like she had feelings for him that way, _right? _

"Do you… have feelings for Booth?" Cam asked, clearly made uncomfortable discussing her ex-boyfriend with her co-worker.

"No, I'm with Sully." She answered, feeling less certain than she sounded.

"Then I wouldn't worry, it was just a dream, they happen." Cam smiled reassuringly. "The best thing to do would be to avoid him all today and then by tomorrow, the dust would have settled."

Brennan breathed a sigh of relief. "Yeah, good idea. Thanks Cam, and I'm sorry if I made you uncomfortable." Cam smiled briefly and then left the room. However painful that might have been to her humility, Cam gave good advise and she was going to take it.

Her computer was on and scanned through her work files, looking for anything unfinished or not done. As it turned out, Dr. Brennan had pretty much organized everything and now there was nothing left to do.

She clicked onto her email for what must have been the first time in months. She usually had her cell on her, so there wasn't really any need for email. About 40 Spam emails appeared, offering her free supplies of viagra, free cursors and smilies, facial reconstruction special offers and a number of other items which she believed no one would ever buy online. She quickly deleted it all and was left with just one very old email. The email informed her than an 'Agent Seeley Booth' was to be her partner in any homicide or suicide cases, or should she need an FBI consort. She reflected on her first meeting with Agent Booth and had only just realized how they'd grown as a couple – team! How they'd grown as a team. Booth's name now seemed to pop out at her every time he was mentioned in the email; not helpful. She deleted the email as it now served no logical purpose and went to get a coffee refill at the machine outside her office.

Taking a deep breath, she blinked her eyes and tried once more to focus on her work. She picked up her phone, which was set on silent, and it blinked 'one missed call' across the screen. She hit the message replay and heard Sully's voice.

"Hey Tempy, just wanted to check in, you seemed a little off this morning. If I did something wrong, I'm sorry. Yeah, so, call me when you get the time." Then the phone went silent.

_Great,_ Temperance thought. _I've managed to make Sully think he's done something wrong. This is insane. I shouldn't be feeling guilty, I didn't do anything!_

Before she had time to hit redial so that she could apologise to Sully, her phone buzzed, alerting her to an incoming call. "Hello?"

"Morning, Bones." Booth's voice rang through the phone. For a split second, Brennan's voice was stuck inside her throat, unable to respond. "Bones?"

"Yeah." She stuttered. "I'm here."

"Good, there's a body been found in the woods just south of Brookfield." Booth said, straight to the point, void of emotion. Temperance understood perfectly well that forming attachments to the work was unhealthy in this line of business, but sometimes it was hard not to look at a corpse as just evidence and not a dead person.

"So, that's why you called?" Brennan asked, mortified by her own words as she said them. _Why else would he call?_

"Well, yeah, Bones, you're my corpse guy." Booth replied, fully aware she'd find his teasing annoying. "I'm on my way to pick you up, I'll be at yours in five."

"I'm not at my house, I'm at the Jeffersonian." Brennan admitted, awaiting the obvious workaholic speech headed her way.

"On a Saturday, Bones?" He retorted. She sighed, allowing him to hear that she really wasn't in the mood. "Ok, I'm on my way." She heard a screeching sound, most likely the result of a 180 turn from Booth's reckless driving.

"Booth, is there any way we could do this another time, like tomorrow?" She crossed her fingers and hoped and prayed, knowing the most likely answer would be…

"Why would you want to do it tomorrow? I've got the body, I have me and there's you, come on Bones, crimes to solve, bad guys to catch!" He sounded like a kid at Christmas who'd just got a cowboy set as his present, guns blazing.

"Right." She muttered, rolling her eyes. Of course she couldn't get away from Booth for one day when she needed it the most, that would be too convenient!


	3. The Case Begins

The first five minutes of the car ride had been filled with awkward glances on Brennan's side and meaningless small talk on Booth's, in an attempt to open her up. But every time Brennan looked at Booth, she blushed and it just wouldn't stop!

"Hey Bones, am I talking to myself here?" He glanced over to her, realizing she hadn't made eye contact with him at all since he picked her up.

"No, I hear you." She replied, her gaze still on the outside world.

He sighed. "What's wrong, Bones?"

"Nothing." She said unconvincingly. She adjusted her sitting position to face forward. "So tell me more about the body. When was it found?"

"About an hour ago by a tramp living in the woods." Booth answered. "He reported it to the local police, but it's FBI jurisdiction now."

"Murder?" She looked to him.

"Looks like, but that's what you're supposed to determine." He smiled and she quickly turned away again.

"Bones, what was that?" He asked, confused by everything about her this morning; her jumpiness around him and her odd behavior being the most obvious differences in attitude.

"Nothing." She lied.

"Do I have something in my teeth or something?" He checked the reflection in his rear view mirror.

"No, you're perf– good." She quickly corrected herself. "You're good."

"So, then what's wrong?" He asked. "I think I've known you long enough to know when you're not acting like yourself."

"Booth, it's a personal thing, so just drop it, ok?" She snapped. Booth was taken aback, stunned to silence. "Sorry," She sighed. "I, um, had problems sleeping last night."

"So Sully wasn't…" He asked, suddenly wondering why that was at all important to him.

"Yeah, he was. I get needed to get out this morning." She confided.

"Well, if you ever need to talk…" He offered.

_You're the last person I'd tell this to._ "Thanks."

They finally arrived at the forest after what seemed to be an eternity of awkward silence. The body had been taped off, and here were dozens of policemen guarding the crime scene.

"Bones, this is Detective Cliffe, he's the head of the police in this area." Booth introduced her to the tubby, old-aged law enforcer and shook his hand.

"Morning, miss. Terrible circumstances to meet under, but Agent Booth says you're the best." He grinned, giving Booth what Brennan could only call an 'odd look'.

"He does?" She looked at Booth, grinning with false modesty.

"Oh yeah, brags about you all the time. In fact –"

"Hey Cliffe, think we could take a look at the body?" Booth interrupted, pushing Brennan past Cliffe to the red tape.

"Well sure, right this way." Cliffe escorted them through the swarm of police to the corpse. Dr. Brennan put on her plastic gloves and knelt beside the body. It had rotted away quite significantly, facial features had eroded and the skin seemed quite gnawed at.

"Was this body buried?" She asked, examining the soil covering the body.

"Yep, dug it up this morning. The tramp who found the body was digging for something and came across the hand. Uncovered it more and found the whole carcass." Detective Cliffe informed them. "Not what I'd like to wake up to on a Saturday morning."

"Me neither." Booth agreed. "Was the tramp questioned?"

"Did it myself. He seems clean." Cliffe concluded.

"I highly doubt that." Booth joked.

Brennan gave the body a once over, paying no attention to Booth's comment. "Well, I'd say it's male, early twenties and been dead for about a month, maybe 6 weeks." She turned to face Booth. "The torn flesh suggests maggots or worms feasting on his body for a long time."

"Poor Bloke." Booth commented.

"I'll need him taken back to the lab for further examination." She stood up and tore off her gloves. "Was there anything else found with the body?"

"Just this." Cliffe held up a see-through bag with a playing card inside. "It was the only item found with the body. Looks more like the killer's calling card than a personal item."

Booth took a look. "It's the Jack of Hearts."

"What does that mean?" Brennan asked Booth, thinking that maybe his held some secret gambling code, with Booth's delinquent past, who knew?

"I don't know." He examined the back of the card. "But these are expensive cards." He speculated. "You see this emblem," He pointed to the back of the card for his partner to see. "That's a personalized mark. They don't make these for just anyone. Luckily, I know all five people who made them this side of the country." He smiled, happy that his knowledge of gambling would finally be an asset to an assignment.

"Of course you would." Brennan teased, happy that work allowed them to have something to talk about and therefore she could talk to him as she always had. Booth met her remark with a sarcastic look.

"Ok, great, we have leads." Booth said optimistically. "Let's go catch the bad guys. Cliffe, thanks for your help." Booth shook his hand.

"Anytime." And turning to Dr. Brennan. "Lovely to meet you."

She took his hand. "And yo–" Brennan was cut off by the loud ringing of her cell phone. "Sorry." She saw 'Sully' flashing on her screen and answered it. "Hello."

There was a voice on the other end of the line, but it was mostly static, she was unable to hear him clearly. "Can you hear me now?" Brennan was almost shouting. "Good, hi Sully."

"Hey babe, it's almost lunch, can I come pick you up? I'm thinking we need a nice, quiet lunch after this morning." He suggested.

"I'd really like that, but Booth and I are working and it looks like it'll go through lunch." Brennan replied. "Didn't I tell you that?"

"I left a message, but you never called back." He reminded her.

"Right, sorry, I got sidetracked." She apologized, feeling really bad for forgetting about calling her boyfriend back, he didn't deserve that.

He sighed. "I understand. How about dinner?"

"Well, I –" She stared, but Booth stood behind her, interrupting by yelling through the phone to Sully.

"Sorry pal, we gotta go. She'll call you back." He took her phone and hung up for her.

"Hey! I was in the middle of a conversation." She snatched the phone back.

"No, we were in the middle of an investigation." Booth reminded her.

"I happen to be able to do both at the same time, it's called multi-tasking." She retorted.

"Right, what is it about women that they think that they can multi-task and we can't?" Booth asked, annoyed.

"Well, you are the lower species." She replied, wondering how, somehow, they'd always managed to end up arguing.

He scoffed. "Nice. Maybe we should just get on with the investigation."

"Fine by me." She agreed, sharing spiteful glares.

"You two do fight a lot for a couple." Cliffe observed, chuckling away to himself.

"We're not a couple." They said in unison, angry more at each other than Cliffe's comment.

"Really?" He asked, seemingly genuinely surprised. "My mistake."

They stalked off back to the car, both too stubborn to be the first to apologise.


	4. Analysis

**Hi guys,  
Thanks for all the reviews and positive feedback, you make me so happy:-)  
We're about to dive into the technical part of the case, so please don't be too harsh with the comments, I'm not Kathy Reichs (sadly) and I am nowhere near being a forensic anthropologist!  
Keep that in mind and keep the reviews coming!!**

**xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxox**

The corpse lay on the examination table, Dr. Brennan leaning over the bones to check for any marks on the skeleton, which could give an indication of how John Doe died.

Booth had gone off to check on his card emblem lead, which was more than a relief to be alone again. Angela had called, but Brennan had refused her help, sure she could handle it herself. Cam had taken off for the afternoon, but Brennan was sure she'd be back later. Cam was as dedicated to the work as Brennan and, with exception to Booth, had never really had a personal life as it got in the way. It still felt weird sometimes; that her partner and her boss had had a fling, and it had always bothered her inwardly – never occurred to her why.

As she had observed earlier, the remains of the body indicated that it was a male who had died in his early twenties, but the ragged flesh around the bones made it hard to decipher how he died, meaning she had to look at the bare bones. The skeleton showed no indication of method of death either. There were no signs of identification, other than the playing card, which Booth had taken, and no visible marks of impact. Therefore, Dr. Brennan concluded that this man must have been poisoned, as there was no bone or flesh bruising around the neck to point to death by strangulation. This meant she'd have to get Hodgins in on a Saturday to clarify exactly what was used.

She took off her gloves and flipped open her phone, dialing Hodgins' number. It rang several times before he answered.

"Hey, it's me." She said. "Ange probably told you I have a body at the lab."

"Oh yeah, I heard about that. On a Saturday, Temperance Brennan?" Hodgins tutted, mockingly disappointed.

"Yeah, Booth's already done that. Listen, I think this guy was poisoned, but I need you to verify exactly how and what was used." She said.

"No problem, I'll be there in ten." Hodgins replied and hung up. Temperance sighed, pitying her anonymous specimen. How unfair to be taken from life so young and to be found in such horrifying conditions. One aspect of her job that she loved was putting away psychos where they could never hurt anyone again.

Ten minutes passed slowly, and in the silent lab, every noise reverberated making it sound ten times louder than it was. Usually the loneliness was comfortable; having always been an independent person she had learnt to cope with being alone, but today had been unnerving on several accounts. She refused to let herself think about her erotic dream and Cliffe's comment on her personal status, but just because she told herself not to do it didn't make it happen less frequently.

"Get a grip, it was just a dream caused by an agitated sub-conscious." She rationalized. Having been so lost in her own thought she hadn't even heard Hodgins enter her office.

"Talking to yourself? Not a good sign." Hodgins smirked, baring a mocking grin.

"Hodgins, hey, thanks for coming." She got off her chair to follow him to his office.

"No problem, that's my job." He answered, swiveling on his chair to face his computer.

"I'd have done it myself, but –" She began.

"You probably would have broken it." He teased, and was met by an irritated look.

"I've got a sample of the inside of the stomach, I was thinking that molecules of the poison would still be there." She explained.

"Right you are." Hodgins loaded up the program and scanned the sample flesh. "This shouldn't take long." He turned to face her. "So how have you been? It seems like we haven't talked in ages."

"I'm fine." She sighed. He gave her an unconvinced, questioning look. "Why do people always give me that look when I say I'm fine?"

"You might want to try saying it without sighing and averting your eyes." Hodgins suggested and Brennan smiled.

"It's nothing. How's you and Ange?" She asked.

"Nice deflection, but I'll let it go." He smiled. "We're great actually. I'm thinking of asking her to move in with me."

"Well, that's great!" She exclaimed, patting him supportively on the back.

"Thanks." He laughed. "I have no idea when though, I want to have just the right moment."

"I wouldn't worry, you guys are great together. I've never seen wither of you happier." She reassured him.

"So what about you and Sully?" He enquired.

"We're fine. We're great." She answered, not entirely enthusiastically.

"Am I detecting trouble in paradise?" He poked.

"No, of course not. Sully's great, we're having a lot of fun." She said sincerely.

"But…" He continued for her.

"No 'buts'." She nodded, inwardly every though lead to Booth. Booth as her partner, her friend, her apparent dream lover.

Before either could say another word, the computer beeped, alerting them that the scan was complete.

"Ok, scans show signs of…" He enlarged the magnification. "Well, there are no chemicals… it's biological. That's odd." He said surprised.

"Food poisoning?" Brennan asked skeptically.

"In a manner, yes. I think we're looking at a plant of some kind." Hodgins said.

"A poison plant?" Brennan looked at the scans; bones she could see when the smaller detail was wrong, when it came to chemical variations on the molecular level, well that's what Hodgins was for.

"I would assume that the plant was mixed into a drink and, as the intent was murder, it would have to work fast." Hodgins concluded. "This is a murder, I presume?"

"Yes, the body was buried in Brookfield forest." Brennan answered. "So what plant would match this specification?"

Hodgins looked thoughtful and then snapped his fingers like an old cliché. "Deadly nightshade." He looked back at the scans. "That's gotta be it. There's no plant tissue in the stomach which would suggest ingestion, and deadly nightshade can easily be mixed into drinks undetectably, and it's fast at work."

"Great Hodgins, thanks." She smiled triumphantly. _Finally, some leads_. She flicked her phone open and dialed.

"Booth." Came the reply.

"It's Brennan, we're got the method of death, how's identification coming?" She asked.

"Four of the five guys I've spoken to claimed they'd never seen the emblem before and I'm on my way to the fifth now." He reported.

"Couldn't you have just asked them on the phone?" Brennan thought.

"Bones, I can't tell if someone's lying over the phone, I need eye-contact, habits sparked by nervousness–"

"Ok, I get it." Brennan shut him up before he went on a psychology rant. "Are these guys reliable?" Somehow she didn't think it was bad for her to question his seemingly shifty gambling sources.

"These guys have licensed businesses, they won't want to compromise their reputations. I mean sure, some of them do under the table dealings, but mostly they just want to make an honest living." Booth explained.

"Ok, well let me know when you talk to the fifth, I'll just be here examining the corpse." Brennan replied.

"I'll bring back lunch." Booth said, hanging up before she could object. Brennan told Hodgins that she appreciated the help and that he could go home, happy to grant someone a day off work. It occurred to her that work was the one place where she'd definitely see Booth if nowhere else, so coming into work this morning to avoid, well, everyone, had backfired completely. Not only was Booth on the brain, he was working alongside her again. Her phone vibrated, it read 'Sully'. She ignored it.


	5. Identified

**Thanks for all the reviews guys, you keep this story alive!**

**xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxox**

A half an hour later, Booth was on his way back to the Jeffersonian with information on the murder and two bacon and cheese subs for lunch with Brennan. It was fair to say that she had been acting unlike herself all morning, nothing someone who didn't know her could detect, but to Booth, who felt he'd gotten to know her very well, she seemed out of character. He thought about how their relationship – their working relationship – had grown over the time they'd known each other. As partners, they were forced to become close friends, but Booth really cared for Brennan in a way that went beyond the call of duty.

Despite the fact that he had always found Sully a decent guy, Booth had found it… irritating that he had attached himself to Brennan. He thought over Sully's accusation that he was, in fact, attracted to Brennan; he hadn't denied it at first, maybe because on some level it was true. She _was_ beautiful and intelligent, and together they made a great team, but he'd decided that it was best that personal and professional lives shouldn't collide; a decision made after Cam's incident. Still, it didn't mean he had to like Sully, or approve of his relationship with Bones.

He pulled into the Jeffersonian and entered the building, always awed by its grand, modern design. Inside, it was pretty much deserted, completely silent. Of course, it was a Saturday. Booth had never understood how Brennan was happy to work so independently and he certainly couldn't understand why she seemed to prefer to work alone.

He walked past the corpse on the table and through to Bones' office where she sat, staring at her phone. "Hey."

Her head snapped up, and then relaxed when she saw it was only him. "Hey."

"Lunch?" He held up her sub and placed it on her desk, sitting in the chair opposite.

"Thanks." She smiled, happy to take a huge bite of the much needed nourishment. "So what did guy number five say?"

"We have a match. Cards matching the emblem on the back of our card were sold by him, to a guy named Jack Brithe. Supposedly, he's a high-roller in Vegas, worth a fair share of cash." Booth told her, biting into his over-sized sub.

"Jack? Wasn't the card a jack of hearts?" Brennan thought aloud.

"Yep." Booth smiled, he liked it when cases began to come together. "Oh, I bought you these." He placed a wad of 'missing persons' reports on her desk. "They go back six weeks."

"Great." She put down her sandwich and flicked through the papers. She singled out the men, and then the men matching her corpse's height and finally age. This left one. She lifted it up for Booth to see.

"Tony Garcia. Married, no kids. We have a contact number and address. Let's go." Booth took the report off her and they headed out of the office in search of Mrs. Garcia.


	6. Breaking The News

"Mrs. Garcia? I'm Dr. Brennan and this is Agent Booth of the FBI. We've coming regarding your husband." They had reached a suburban house just south of Las Vegas and were met by a young Mexican woman who seemed to be quite timid.

"Tony?" She gasped, obviously caught off-guard. "Please, come in."

Inside the house was as elegant as the outside; it was decorated in a modest beige and the furniture was of the highest quality. It was spacious and tidy, much like the stereotypical suburban house.

"Please, sit down." Mrs. Garcia waved to the sofa.

"Thank you." Booth and Brennan took their seats.

"Can I offer you a drink? Tea perhaps?" She said, unable to stop twiddling her fingers.

"Um, no, thank you." Booth answered, looking to Brennan who realized he'd obviously detected something she hadn't. When tea had been rejected, Mrs. Garcia nervously sat down, anxious to hear what they had to say. "Mrs. Garcia, we believe we've found your husband. I regret to inform you that he is deceased."

"Oh!" She gasped, leaning back into her chair for support. Her breathing accelerated, and tears welled up in her eyes.

"I'm so sorry." Brennan offered her condolences.

Mrs. Garcia tried to recapture her breath for a few moments, trying to recompose herself. "I suspected… he was gone for so long, but to hear you say it…" She looked away, tears rolled down her face. She took a tissue out of her red handbag, which caught Brennan's particular attention. Brennan cared little about women's fashion, but even she could tell that it was a cheap knock-off, hardly the usual accessory for such a wealthy woman, if her house was any indication to her money.

"Mrs. Garcia, I know this is a tragic time for you, but you should know that your husband was murdered." Booth added.

"Murdered? By whom?" Her tears stopped, and it seemed the chock of hearing it made her angry, or at least surprised.

"We have a few leads, but we may need you in for questioning, nothing for you to worry about, just routine." Booth informed her, sympathetic to her situation.

"Of course." She sobbed, wiping her tears away gently.

"Mrs. Garcia, do you know who Jack Brithe is?" Brennan asked bluntly, and then receiving an irritated look from Booth as if to say 'let me handle this'.

Mrs. Garcia looked thoughtful for a moment, probably trying to match a face to the name. "No, I don't think so. Tony knew so many people, especially with the gambling –"

"He gambled often?" Booth interrupted.

Mrs. Garcia smiled nostalgically. "Yes."

"And when was the last time you saw your husband?" Booth asked.

"In the early evening, Saturday 19th May, last month, before he went to Vegas." She replied. "He would go to Vegas every Saturday. Sometimes he'd win, more often he'd lose."

"Did he ever _mention_ a Jack Brithe to you? Read anything he'd written down about him? Saw a check receipt?" Booth probed.

Mrs. Garcia looked thoughtful again. "Yes, I believe I did hear something. In fact, it was the Saturday before he disappeared. Tony had lost a lot of money through gambling to a 'Jack' and Tony came home drunk, rambling about not knowing how to pay the money back. I think he was going to play that man again the night my Tony disappeared."

"When you were filing the missing persons report, you didn't think to put any of this in there?" Brennan questioned her.

"I forgot. I was in such a state when I filed the report, I couldn't think straight." She admitted. Brennan and Booth looked to one another, considering her story.

"Well, thank you Mrs. Garcia, and I'm truly sorry about your husband. Rest assured we're going to find the person who did this." Booth offered, knowing that although he couldn't ever console the victim's families for their loss, but at least catching the murderer would offer them some comfort. Brennan stood up and shook the woman's hand, Booth doing the same after her.

"Please find the monster who did this to my Tony?" She pleaded and held onto Booth's hand.

"We'll do everything we can." Booth promised, before they left the house.

Booth put on his sunglasses as they got into the car to drive back to the Jeffersonian.

"Do you believe her?" Brennan caught Booth's skeptical look inside the house and just had to ask.

"I don't know. My gut's telling me she wasn't being truthful, and she did some strange things…" Booth left off to think for himself.

"Like what? What do you mean?" Brennan asked, sometimes aggravated that he could see things she couldn't, despite her heightened IQ.

"We told her we had information about her husband after six weeks of uncertainty. Most people would have asked us what it was when we were on the porch. She offered us tea." Booth reasoned. "On the other hand, the Jack Brithe story was convincing. I think I'm gonna check ton see if and when Brithe and Tony's last game was and question Brithe." Booth concluded.

"Ok, well, I'll come." Brennan offered.

Booth chuckled. "Bones, questioning a potential suspect requires a certain… charisma, finesse. Being subtle is key."

"Are you saying I'm not subtle?" Brennan felt offended. "I'm subtle."

"I'm just saying that your better at, you know, the lab technical stuff, whereas my area of expertise is more… people relations." Booth explained.

"What? That is so… You're so…" Brennan was too frustrated for words, annoyed that he thought that her only talents were 'squint' related.

"Charming? Devilishly handsome? Helpful?" Booth offered, baring a wide grin.

"I was going for unwelcome." Brennan finished, then turned feeling upset to face the window.

"Come on Bones, I'm only joking." Booth laughed. "Why is it you always get so annoyed when I do that?"

"Because… you know how to push my buttons where I haven't even found yours." She admitted.

"So you're annoyed at me because I know how to annoy you and you don't know how to annoy me?" Booth summed up, Brennan remained silent. "Doing a pretty good job at the moment, Bones." Booth glanced at her between glancing at the road ahead, "You know what you need? You need to quit being so uptight, let loose a bit, chill."

"I am loose." Brennan argued. "I happen to be capable of having a fun night, of 'chilling' with my friends. I'm not as boring as you believe me to be."

"Bones, I don't think you're boring." Booth confessed. "In fact I think you're one of the most unboring people I know." He smiled.

"No you don't." She laughed, easily able to see past his unconvincing white lie.

"Ok, maybe I don't." Booth laughed. "But you could be. You should come out with me some night and we'll party it up."

"Party it up? Who talks like that?" Brennan teased. "I'll tell you what, we get through this case without being shot at, or tied up, or almost dead, and I'll go with you wherever you want to go." Brennan compromised.

"Deal." Booth agreed, and without even thinking, added. "It's a date."

Both Booth and Brennan reflected on his last words, entering an uncomfortable silence, Booth regretting how he'd said it, and Brennan wondering what exactly he meant by it. Oh yeah, and there was Sully too. Interesting how he was her last thought.


	7. Can't Live With Em, Can't Avoid Them

Brennan and Booth had been waiting for 20 minutes for Jack Brithe's information to come through from the FBI so that they could track him down and question him. Feeling guilty that she had blown off Sully for lunch and intended to do so again for dinner, she rang him.

"Hello?" He answered.

"Hey Sully, it's me." Temperance said, trying to pull off perky. It didn't take.

"Oh, hi Tempy. How's the investigation going?"

"Just as complicated as always." She replied dryly.

"I tried calling you earlier, but…" He trailed off, hoping she'd hop in with a plausible explanation rather than an excuse.

"Yeah, sorry, it's been really hectic." She lied. "I'm sorry about lunch."

"It's ok." He sighed. "There's always dinner."

"And I'm sorry about dinner, too." She bit her lip, worried how he'd take it.

"What?" He almost shouted. "Why do you need to work tonight as well?"

"We have a potential suspect, Booth and I are going to Vegas to question him." Temperance explained.

"Can't Booth do that alone?" Sully argued.

Temperance stayed silent for a hesitant second. "There could be more evidence, Booth might need me –"

"I'm sure he will." Sully scoffed.

"What is that supposed to me?" Temperance asked, suddenly regretting she'd called at all.

He sighed. "Nothing. Just call me as soon as you get home, I don't care what time."

"Ok, Sully I'm –" Brennan was cut off by Booth's shouting from across the lab telling her he had the information. "I've got to go, bye."

She hung up, feeling a little guilty that she had been neglecting Sully so much over the day, but also irritated sometimes, that he was too, well, clingy.

She joined Booth as they walked over to the Jeffersonian and got into the car once more. "Here's all we need to know." He handed her a file of Jack Brithe's life. "He's staying at the Luxor in Vegas, so we'll go and question him – _I'll_ question him – and hopefully find out whether he murdered Tony or not."

"You don't think it's this guy?" Brennan waved the file.

"Well, there's motive, Tony owed him money. Also, his card was on the body, which would suggest he did it, but then again it could have been planted. If you had murdered someone, would you leave a calling card tracing back to you? He would have to be one arrogant bastard if he had, if not, then it's probably a plant." Booth speculated.

"What about the wife though, you said she was lying?" Brennan recalled.

"I said she _might_ be lying, Bones." He sighed. "It would just be nice to get a simple case once in a while."

"I agree, but I don't think you should put all your money on this guy at least until you've met him." Brennan advised.

It wouldn't take long to get to Vegas, not with Booth's driving anyway, but Brennan began to worry that the awkward silence would set in again if either one of them said –

"So, how's Sully?" – something like that.

"He's fine." She replied bluntly, hoping that might end the conversation.

"Nothing you want to talk about, or…" He asked, obviously feeling uncomfortable at the thought of discussing Bones' love life.

"Is there a reason you keep prying into my personal life when it's so obvious it makes you uncomfortable?" She asked, evidently a little annoyed.

He shrugged, backing off a little. "I just thought you might want to open up a little is all. You have been kinda off all day." She stayed silent, looking out the window. "Hey, if you can't tell your partner, who can you tell?" He grinned.

"Booth, it's not that I don't appreciate what you're trying to do, but I really, really, really don't want to talk about it with _you_." Unconsciously, she managed to make it sound personal, which is what she tried to avoid. However, either he didn't notice or he let it go.

"Ok." He replied stiffly, clearly hurt. Once again, they managed to go the rest of the journey in silence, though Brennan took comfort in the fact that neither of them could stop talking to one another for long, and that was something she was really grateful for. She couldn't imagine not speaking to Booth for too long, she'd miss his boyish grin.


	8. Jack of Sleeze

**Firstly, thanks for all the reviews – you guys rock!  
Secondly, I want to apologize for any confusion. I wasn't sure where the show was set during writing this, and being a British ignorant person, I have no idea how long it would take to get to Las Vegas from wherever they are anyway. I'm sorry for any annoyance that this might cause, but to be honest, it's not that important to the story anyway. I just hope you can go on enjoying it.  
More BB coming up!  
Feral xx**

* * *

"Can I help you?" The receptionist asked, baring a welcoming grin. They had reached the Luxor by the evening.

"I'm Agent Booth of the FBI, I need to know what room Jack Brithe is in." He ordered. At the flash of his badge, the receptionist lost her grin and immediately obliged.

"Mr. Brithe is residing in room 3206." She answered. "Go left and you'll find the elevator."

"Thank you." Booth and Brennan followed her directions to the lift.

They arrived on the third floor, and walked the short distance to Mr. Brithe's door.

Booth knocked. The door opened and in front of them stood a very short man wearing a fine silk-cut beige dressing robe, obviously expensive, and seemingly annoyed at the interruption. "What?"

"Mr. Brithe, I'm Agent Booth, this is Dr. Brennan. We need to ask you some questions."

Mr. Brithe looked skeptical for a moment, but then opened his door wider and allowed them in, taking a seat without even offering them to do the same. "So, what do you want?"

"Do you know a Tony Garcia?" Booth asked, straight to the point.

"Unfortunately, yes. The rodent still owes me money, but then he _conveniently_ disappeared." Brithe answered, his voice oozing with contempt.

"Tony Garcia was found dead this morning." Brennan said, both partners carefully watching for a reaction.

He blinked. "Well, then I guess he got out of paying me then."

Booth looked at him suspiciously, bringing out the card. "Do you recognize this?"

His eyes widened. "Where did you find that? I've been looking for that for weeks."

"It was found with Mr. Garcia's buried body." Booth explained, returning the card to inside his jacket pocket.

Mr. Brithe relaxed into his chair. "So you think I killed him?"

"You do have motive; and I talked to the guy who did this card emblem for you, Mr. Brithe, and you're the only one with this emblem on the back of his cards. Besides, you don't exactly seem broken up about his death." Booth pointed out.

"It's no secret I didn't like the guy. I may not be a saint, Agent Booth, but I do not approve of married men who have mistresses." He sneered.

"He had mistresses?" Brennan enquired, surprised for so young a man to be having mistresses already.

Well, I only ever saw one. I knew she wasn't his wife cos he wore a ring and she didn't." He said, eyeing Brennan up and down enough to make her uncomfortable.

Booth picked up on this. "Hey, I'm over here." He waved his hand in front of Brithe's face.

"You know, you're a very beautiful woman." He winked at her and she shuddered in revulsion. "Can I buy you a drink sometime?"

"I'm involved." She replied.

"Shame." He frowned. "You're a lucky man." He turned to Booth.

Booth decided just to ignore him and continue with the investigation. "Back to business, what was the name of his mistress?"

"Wanda, Winnie, something like that. She was blonde, about Dr. Brennan's height, with really big –" He made the obvious hand motion.

"Ok, we get it." Brennan stopped him.

"Did she stay here?" Booth asked him.

"Maybe, I dunno. She appeared when Garcia was here and disappeared when he wasn't." Mr. Brithe replied.

"Security cameras." He murmured to Brennan, and then turning to Mr. Brithe. "So, you played Tony, he lost, he told you he'd pay you as soon as possible and he left the hotel with his mistress?"

"Yes." Brithe confirmed.

"And you didn't see him again after that?" Booth asked.

"Correct." He sighed, tired of Booth's insinuations.

"And I assume you have an alibi to support this?" Booth added.

"After the game, I had a few drinks at the bar and returned to my room where I stayed for the duration of the night." He replied, tapping his fingers impatiently on the armchair.

"Witnesses?" Booth asked, he too was getting tired of Brithe's short answers.

"Well, the barman. As for my whereabouts, check the security cameras – I didn't leave the hotel all night." Brithe guaranteed.

"Ok." Booth replied skeptically. "Don't go anywhere over the next few days."

"Fine by me." He shrugged. "Now, if you would excuse me, I have a meeting in half an hour." He got up and motioned them to the door. Booth and Brennan followed him to the door. "Oh, and Agent Booth, can I have my card back? It's not a set without all the cards."

"No can do, it's state evidence now." Booth smiled and they left. He didn't like the guy, but he did provide some evidence.

As they entered the lift, Brennan asked, "What now?"

"We need to check on his alibi, I'll do that later, and check the security tapes, get an MO on Mr. Garcia's mistress." Booth informed her.

"I wouldn't have thought that a young married man would be having affairs, it always seemed like such a middle-aged man thing to do." Brennan commented.

Booth just shrugged. He checked his watch, it was getting late. "You know, I'm starved. Once we've got the girl's image off the tapes, you want to get a bite to eat?"

"I hadn't really thought about it, but I'm kinda hungry too. Sounds like a plan." Brennan agreed.

She thought for a minute about the differences between eating dinner with Sully and then with Booth. With Sully, it was comfortable and intimate, she enjoyed his company; but with Booth, it was comfortable and intimate in an entirely different way. Booth always suited her mood; he could be funny, serious, her partner, her friend, annoy the hell out of her but she would never really care. She wondered why she never felt that with Sully, but didn't dare question herself too much, for fear of the answer.


	9. Shattered

They had found the girl on the security tapes and sent the image off to FBI HQ to get identification. Jack Brithe's story had checked out, but Booth and Brennan still had no explanation as to why his card had turned up with the body. Dinner was short-lived, as Brennan had said that she had to get home, much to Booth's protest. He seemed to be enjoying Brennan's company as much as she was his. She couldn't stop thinking about how well they'd got on together. But, she promised to call Sully, and her loyalty had to be to him.

She arrived back at home late, 1:30pm, quite exhausted by her day. She had a few to drink at dinner with Booth and now her head was throbbing. He dropped her off at her apartment and offered to walk her up the stairs, but she declined, fearing that the drink would tell her to do things to Booth that she wouldn't usually do in a sober state. Drunken Temperance was severely different to sober Temperance, as she had first found out from Prom Night all those years ago. Since then, she had rarely had more than two glasses of champagne until tonight.

She stumbled through the door, locked it behind her and switched on the lights. Her apartment was how she left it – clean, tidy and normal. Sometimes coming home to an empty house was unnerving, especially after Howard Epps broke in so easily that time, but tonight she was just relieved.

She kicked off her shoes and reached for the phone, dialing Sully's number. He answered, "Hello?"

"Hey, it's me." She smiled.

"Oh, hey." He replied, seemingly happy to hear from her. "How'd it go?"

"Ok. Just another case." She shrugged, unwilling to admit that each dead body affected her more than she'd like.

"I know it's late, but have you eaten?" He asked, Brennan knowing what he was about to suggest and felt sort of glad that she had.

"Actually yeah, got dinner with Booth before he drove me home." She answered, grabbing an orange juice out of the fridge.

"That almost sounds like a date." Sully nervously laughed.

She headed to her bedroom. "Sully, I –" She stopped out of shock. Her bedroom was a mess. Everything was thrown off her tabletops, lamps broken, pillows ripped apart, her clothes scattered all over the floor; and on her bed, a note written using magazine letters stuck onto paper. She held her breath as she read it: _'Leave this case alone, or you'll be seeing me soon.'_

"Tempy?" Sully's voice rang through the phone. She couldn't move for a moment, for fear that if she turned around she'd see the person who had infiltrated her personal space. "Tempy?"

"Sully, someone's been in my house." She whispered, more shocked than scared now.

"I'm coming over. Lock the door until I arrive." He hung up before she could say anything else; she just backed out of her bedroom slowly, listening intently for any sound that might alert her that the culprit was still there. The words on the note echoed in her mind: '_You'll be seeing me soon'_. There was a still silence for a moment. Someone knocked at the door and she jumped, slowly walking to the door and looking through the peep-hole: Booth.

Opening the door, he said, "You left this in the car." He handed her jacket to her, noticing how scared and pale she looked. "Bones, what's wrong?" He stepped through the doorway, placing his hands on her shoulders.

"Someone's been in my house. In the bedroom, it's all…" She trailed off and he took out his gun as he walked to the bedroom to see for himself.

He came back out again, though not quite as disoriented as Brennan. Before either could say anything, Sully crashed through the unclosed door. "Tempy, are you alright? The door was open and…" He saw Booth. "What are you doing here?"

"I was returning her jacket, she seemed upset, then I saw this on the bed." He held up the note for Sully to read. "You should see the bedroom, it's a mess."

Sully left Temperance's side to see for himself. "I was on the phone to him when I saw it." Brennan explained to Booth.

Sully returned and got out his cell. "I'll call the boys to pick this stuff up, there might be some prints telling us who did this." Sully spoke to 'the boys' on the other end and made the arrangements. "That takes care of that. Tempy, I think you should stay with me until this is sorted out."

"You shouldn't stay here until we catch this guy." Booth agreed.

"No psycho is going to chase me out of my own home." Brennan defied.

"Bones, it's too dangerous, you read the note, they may come back." Booth reasoned.

"Right, I can protect you at my place." Sully promised her.

"Actually Sully, whoever did this knows where Bones lives, so we should assume they know about you too, your house would be the next target. Bones needs to lay low, I know a place." Booth offered and Sully scoffed.

"And how would _your_ apartment be laying low?" Sully argued, annoyed by the insinuation that he couldn't protect his own girlfriend.

"Guys, I don't need protecting." Brennan interjected.

"Yes, you do." Booth and Sully said in unison, then Booth turned to Brennan. "I really think you should come with me, I have a bad feeling."

There was a desperation in Booth's voice which made her say, "Ok." without even realizing it.

She faced Sully who looked hurt and dumbfounded as to why she didn't pick him. He gave Temperance a disappointed look and left silently, Brennan following after him out of her apartment.

"Sully." She called after him. He kept walking, but stopped on the staircase on the lower floor and turned to face her. "He's probably right, they would come for your house next if I wasn't at mine. You know that too, and the last thing I want is for you to get hurt."

Sully softened his gaze barely at all, considering what she said. "I'm just saying he could back off a little."

"He's my partner Sully, he's just looking out for me." She argued, a little confused at why Booth seemed to always come up in their conversation recently.

"It is not his job to protect you!" He almost yelled.

"Actually, it kinda is." She replied and met his hard gaze with hers.

"Tempy," He took a deep breath. "I think the Bureau should assign you another partner."

"What?" She took a step back, at first thinking it was a joke, but then caught his serious expression. "Why?"

"It's obvious his feelings for you are getting in the way of his job, putting both your lives at risk." Sully disputed, raising his voice a little.

"Booth doesn't have feelings for me, Sully, we're partners, he cares for me as a partner, and he watches out for me because he doesn't want anything to happen to me." Brennan retorted, slightly enraged by her boyfriend's attempt to control her life. "He's saved my life on numerous occasions, why would I want another partner?"

"I don't like you working with him." Sully confessed, then dropping his gaze. "Tempy, I want to get away for a while, a few months, maybe longer. And I want you to come with me." Temperance stayed silent, unable to form words. "And this is a one-time offer, because I need you to choose: him or me."

Temperance stared at him with disbelief. "Sully, you are my boyfriend, Booth is my partner, just what exactly am I supposed to choose?"

"Whether spending time with me takes president over spending time with him." Sully answered, his attitude calm.

"You're asking me to choose between my career and my boyfriend." Brennan stated, confused as to why he was doing this.

"No, I'm asking you to take some time off work for a well deserved holiday, and I'm asking you to leave Booth and everyone else behind." Sully answered.

"Sully, I…" Brennan started. "I can't leave my job."

"You mean you won't leave Booth." Sully stated, rolling his eyes. "Why are you so obsessed with him anyway?"

"I'm not, why are you so threatened?" Brennan challenged him, angry at the turn this conversation was taking.

"Oh, come on, Tempy, it's so obvious that he's in love with you. I saw it from the very beginning, but I chose to ignore it, hoping it wouldn't matter." He breathed. "But I see now, he influences you more than I do."

Temperance was stuck on everything Sully had just said, words were stuck in her throat and nothing was forming in her brain. "What?" She sputtered. "What?" She took a breath. "Booth isn't in love with me, that's ridiculous."

"Tempy, don't be blind. I've seen the way he looks and talks to you, and I've seen the way you look at him. You have never looked at me that way." Sully observed with a sigh.

"Sully, I don't look at him in any special way." She said, completely unaware of how convinced he was of this.

"Do you love me?" He clasped her hands in his. "Because I know I'm in love with you. But you aren't, I see it in your eyes. I just think we need to get away, start afresh."

"When are you leaving?" She asked, avoiding his prior question.

"Tuesday. On the boat." He answered. "Let me know. I love you." He kissed her hand, and she was too stunned to do anything but watch him leave the building.


	10. Insomnia

She returned to her apartment in a stunned state, her mind was a whirl of confusion: Sully saying he loved her, asking her to effectively run away with him, and, oh yeah, Sully's accusation of Booth's feelings for her.

Booth was on the phone, luckily he hadn't noticed how phased she looked and felt. Booth clicked off the phone and faced Brennan. "Wendy Myers, that's the mistress. She's been staying at a motel outside Las Vegas for the last few weeks. Why don't you pack up some stuff and then we'll find her tomorrow."

She replied in a half trance, only partially hearing anything he had just said. "Er, sure."

"Hey, Bones?" He waved a hand in front of her face. "Are you alright? Where's Sully?" Booth asked, checking the corridor.

"Wait, pack up? Where am I going?" Brennan asked, snapping out of her daze.

"Bones, someone broke into your house and left you threatening messages, you're coming to stay with me." Booth reminded her.

_He's in love with you._ Sully's voice popped into her head. "What? No, I'll stay with Ange."

"Bones, I'd feel better if you stayed with me so I can keep an eye on you, I can't protect you at Angela's." He reasoned, slightly annoyed by her stubbornness.

"For the last time Booth, I don't need protecting. This," She signaled to the bedroom. "Just caught me a little off-guard. I'm fine."

"Hey, Bones –" Booth's tone hardening, before she cut him off.

"And don't call me Bones." She added, her volume increasing. He raised his hands defensively and stepped back. "I'll stay with Ange."

She went back into her bedroom, packed her overnight kit; phoned Angela who agreed to let her stay with her and blew past Booth without a word as the FBI agents invaded her apartment to investigate. Booth didn't follow her, though she half-expected him to.

The truth was, she wasn't really angry at Booth since he hadn't actually done anything wrong, but he just wouldn't back off; although she knew that his concern came from a good place, sometimes she wished he could just trust that she could take care of herself. She knew here was a deeper meaning there somewhere – her dream and what Sully had said, it had just confused her, so she had done what was typical and became angry instead. And she was angry at Sully. How could he think that… her relationships with Booth and Sully were completely different.

_Sully is… _She came up with nothing, _and Booth is… Booth._

She arrived at Angela's apartment and with little but pleasantries to say, Ange quickly settled Brennan in the guest room and realizing she'd be tired, left it to her.

No matter how hard she tried, she couldn't sleep. She had expected that if she'd stayed with Booth, not only would Sully had blown a fuse, she wouldn't be able to sleep with the man who apparently _loved_ her, sleeping in the next room. However, at Ange's, thoughts of Booth's feelings had no lesser impact on her than if she'd stayed with him, which was unexpected.

Booth and Sully swarmed about in her head. If she went with Sully, she'd be giving up her work, her friends and Booth, at least for a few months. If she didn't go with Sully, she would always wonder if Booth was the reason, and she'd be giving up a great relationship with future potential for a partnership with no future. She really cared for Sully, but she cared for Booth as well; it was like pitting her boyfriend against her best friend in a battle to the death. Her best friend who she dreamed of kissing… And so these thoughts went round and round in her head for hours, preventing her from much needed sleep. Finally, in the wee hours of the morning, she fell asleep from exhaustion alone.


	11. On My List

Brennan woke up to the sound of Angela leaving he apartment, but left a note to say that she needed to go to the supermarket and that Booth had called and he'd be picking her up at 10:30am to question Wendy Myers.

The clock in the kitchen flashed 10:15. She quickly showered, changed and made herself a hot mug of strong coffee, needing all the caffeine her body could handle to recover from the five or six hours of sleep she'd gotten last night. No conclusions had been drawn, but it had simmered and she felt calmer today. Ironically, the one thing that should disturb her – the breaking and entering of her house – was the one thing she hadn't thought about at all. She had received threats on her life before and they had never panned out, why was this one any different?

She sipped her coffee and her thoughts were interrupted by the knocking of the door.

Booth appeared holding up an apple turnover. "Peace offering?"

She smiled, unable to stop herself, and accepted the pastry. "Thanks. You want some coffee?"

"Nah, I thought we could just get going, find Wendy, solve the case, catch the bad guy." He suggested.

"Ok." She grabbed her jacket, swallowed the last of her coffee, and followed Booth out of the apartment, locking Ange's door.

As they got in the car and began to drive off, Brennan felt she should apologise for her behaviour yesterday. "Booth, about yesterday, I'm sorry for the way I acted, it wasn't personal, I just had a lot on my mind."

"No, it's understandable." Booth said, though inwardly he thought it felt personal. "It's fine."

"Thanks. I think I just need you to back off a little, especially when Sully's around." Brennan told him.

"Bones," He scoffed. "Protecting you is part of the job, and if Sully has a problem with that, well, I'd rather him be pissed at me than you hurt."

"Why can't you two just get along? When I first met him you kept saying what a great guy he was, and now…" Brennan sighed.

"Maybe I just think you could do better." Booth replied, shrugging as if it was a general opinion, though an awkward silence followed.

"I just want you to trust that I can take care of myself sometimes." Brennan said, her thoughts, mostly on Booth's last comment.

"Ok," Booth nodded. "As long as you accept that I'm always gonna be looking out for you."

"Ok." She agreed, glad the air was cleared. The last thing she wanted was for Booth to be mad at her for the finality of this case and any future cases. "So, how far's the motel?"

"Another twenty five minutes." He replied.

The ten minutes were filled with small talk. Brennan felt like everything Booth said could be a clue as to whether Sully's accusation held any water. She still thought about his unanswered question, did she love him? Love is a big commitment and, obviously, a powerful emotion. She really liked Sully, and she was having a lot of fun, but love? She wasn't sure, which logically meant no, she wasn't in love with him. But she could, someday, and giving Sully up for a relationship that would always be the same with Booth seemed pointless too. She either allowed her and Sully's relationship to grow to love, or stayed with Booth to have the same working relationship she'd been fairly happy with for the past two years. Booth had made it clear that he didn't want personal and professional lives to collide, not that she wanted them to…

"Here we are." Booth pulled in to the run down motel, the building seemingly held together by mould alone. "She's number 19."

They climbed the stairs to the apartment and Booth knocked on the door. The door opened as far as the locking chain would allow. "Yes?"

"Wendy Myers?" She nodded feebly. "My name's Agent Booth of the FBI and this is Dr. Brennan." Booth introduced. "We need to speak with you."

She closed the door and reopened it, wordlessly allowing the to follow her into the shabby apartment. The girl was blonde, sickeningly thin and her eyes were very dull. "Miss Myers, we're here regarding Tony Garcia. He's dead, Miss Myers." Booth told her.

"What?" Her fragile frame seemed likely to crumble. "Tony's gone?"

"I'm sorry, we understand you were his…" Booth looked to Brennan for the right word.

"Girlfriend." Wendy finished. "He loved me, he said he was going to leave his wife for me. But now…" She sobbed.

"Miss Myers, you were reportedly the last person to be seen with Mr. Garcia." Booth informed her. "What happened after you left the Luxor on the night of the 19th May." Booth asked.

"Well, he came back here with me, and we were…together, and then he left at about 2am." She recalled. "Next door complained about the noise." She smiled to herself nostalgically.

"And then?" Brennan urged her to continue.

"And then nothing. He left and I never saw him again." She sniffed.

"You haven't seen him for over a month, where did you think he was?" Brennan asked skeptically.

"I feared," She took a deep breathe. "I thought he might have got together with his wife." Brennan and Booth looked to each other, raised eyebrows.

"Miss Myers, what do you know of Jack Brithe?" Booth asked.

"Tony played him a few times. Tony kept losing and Jack got angry when he couldn't pay. He hit him actually, the night Tony left. His face was so bruised." Wendy winced at the pain of remembrance, Brennan narrowing her eyes at her suspiciously, but remained silent.

"What about his wife?" Booth prodded.

"We never met, for obvious reason." She answered. "Tony never spoke about her to me."

"Well, that should be enough for now. Stay local in case we need to talk again." Booth warned. "Thanks for your time."

They walked out unaccompanied by Wendy to be met with the blinding sunshine of the outside world. "Booth, she lied." Brennan revealed. "Tony wasn't hit, there was no bruising on the bone."

"What, you think she did it? She's too small to stand up even to a granny." Booth pointed out.

"All I'm saying is that the facts are that Jack didn't hit Tony and Wendy lied." Brennan replied.

Before Booth could say anything, his phone rang. He answered, "Booth." Pause. "Really? You sure? Great, thanks." He turned to face Brennan. "One of your neighbours saw a woman entering your apartment yesterday afternoon, your height and hair color, carrying a red handbag. Your neighbour thought it was you, she never saw a face." Booth reported to her.

"Wait," Brennan submerged deep in thought. "A red handbag? Mrs. Garcia had a red handbag."

"Maybe we should go talk to Mrs. Garcia again." He grinned; they were close to solving the case, he could feel it. "Besides, the Jack Brithe theory doesn't work. Tony Garcia was loaded and our reports say, financially he was sound, I mean, look at his house, so why couldn't he pay?"

"Why don't we ask Mrs. Garcia." Brennan suggested; and as they walked off, little did they know, they were being watched.


	12. Evidence

"Mrs. Garcia, we need to talk to you." Booth said, barging through the door, Brennan on his heels. "Where were you between 1pm and 4pm yesterday?" Booth asked, getting straight to the point.

"I spent all yesterday afternoon tending to my garden." She replied, shocked by the intrusion.

Brennan spotted the red handbag on the dining room table. "May I ask where you got this bag, Mrs. Garcia?"

"I bought it, I don't remember where, but what exactly is this all about?" She asked, her façade seemingly worried.

"Oh, just that something with this handbag matching your description broke into my partner's house yesterday and left a malicious threat." Booth explained, giving Mrs. Garcia a warning stare.

"How awful!" She exclaimed.

"Oh yeah, I take threats against my partners life _very_ personally, so I would suggest to whoever is plotting against her to stop immediately, or they'll be very, _very_ sorry." He warned, noticing how very uncomfortable she had become.

Brennan gaze was fixed outside to Mrs. Garcia's garden. "For someone who spent hours gardening, none of it looks disturbed and there seems to be weeds everywhere."

"I watered the plants and trimmed the back hedges." She offered, fiddling nervously with her hands.

Brennan's gaze remained unmoved. "What is that plant over there?"

"I'm not sure. Tony and I only bought the house eight months ago and I'm afraid to admit that I don't know much about plants." She chuckled nervously, and attempting to distract their attention, she added, "Now Mr. Booth, I'm very sorry to hear about your partner's apartment –"

He smiled to himself in satisfaction. "I didn't mention it was an apartment." _Gotchya_, he thought. Her face went white.

While Booth was interrogating, Brennan slid open the back doors and tore off some the plant that had spellbound her and studied it. Biology of plants was a long time ago in terms of studying, but this was a plant uncommon to the typical suburban garden. She sniffed it, felt its ttexture, noted the patterns and turned to Booth in absolute certainty, "This is deadly nightshade."

Booth looked to Brennan and could tell, without even asking, that her excitement meant she was completely sure of her findings. He took out his handcuffs and faced Mrs. Garcia. "Mrs. Garcia. You are under arrest for breaking and entering and muder. Anything you say can and will be used against you in a court of law. You have the right to an attorney, if you do not have an attorney –"

"I have an attorney." She muttered, eyes down and silent as Booth called for back-up. Booth and Brennan shared a glance, pleased by their day's work.


	13. Truth Unveiled

It had been two hours since Mrs. Garcia had been arrested and taken in for questioning. There had been enough evidence to convict her at least for breaking and entering, as her fingerprints were confirmed with those found in Brennan's apartment. As for the murder, there was motive and method, having found the deadly nightshade in her garden; it was all right in front of them, but still… Booth's investigative instinct told him something was missing.

"It doesn't add up." Booth mulled over from the observation window. "What about the Jack of Hearts? Jack Brithe had never even met Mrs. Garcia, what's the connection?"

"Booth, you have all the evidence and it all points to Mrs. Garcia, what more is there to look at?" Brennan asked. "Mrs. Garcia must have found out about his affair and when he retuned home after Vegas, she poisoned him in his nightcap."

"It's something…. There's something more to this." He stared into space, deep in thought. "Wait a minute…" He snapped his fingers, smiled and stormed into the interrogation room.

"Mrs. Garcia, you know Wendy Myers." Booth accused her, Brennan following in after him. "And I believe that she's a part of this."

"Booth…" Brennan asked, confused at where he was going with this.

"How else would they have got Jack Brithe's card with the body? Mrs. Garcia never met Brithe, but Wendy bumped into Brithe several times in Vegas and could have easily lifted the card from him. They tried to frame him, but it backfired because of his alibi." Booth pieced together. "That's it, isn't it?"

Mrs. Garcia remained silent, a sure sign that Booth was on to something.

"Why? What's the motive?" Brennan asked, unable to see how Booth put this all together, frustrating her further.

Booth smiled again, staring hard at Mrs. Garcia. "Hell hath no fury like a woman scorned. Mrs. Garcia must have met Wendy, they both realized they could do better than a two-timer and decided to get even." Booth concluded. "We have to get Wendy in."

"Leave her out of this!" Mrs. Garcia pleaded, speaking for the first time in hours, her voice hoarse. "I'll take the full blame, just leave her be."

"Why would you want to protect her?" Brennan asked. "She was your husband's girlfriend." Both Booth and Brennan stared at her for the answer, but Mrs. Garcia remained unmoved and silent. The realization hit Brennan like a lightning strike. "The red handbag. It's a knockoff. Someone with your money wouldn't have bought that and you wouldn't have held onto it if it didn't have sentimental value." Brennan pieced together, Booth listening intently to every word. "That handbag's from Wendy, you and she are…"

"Lovers." She finished defiantly.

"Oh." Was all an uncomfortable Booth managed to say. Brennan smiled triumphantly at Booth, finally able to conclude something that he didn't. "Let's go."

They left the room to once again visit Wendy Myers and bring an end to another messy, involved murder case.


	14. Communication is Key

Wendy wasn't at home, and by now, late afternoon, it was anyone's guess when and if she'd be home. Having missed lunch, Booth had bought some food and drink from the gas station across the road, and so waiting for Wendy had become an official stakeout.

Once the last of her sandwich was digested, a comfortable silence filled the car. For all the times that Booth had offered to listen to her problems and for all the times she had declined, her potentially life changing decision still whirred in her mind and she needed someone to talk to.

"Sully asked me to go away with him." Brennan said straight out.

"I guess a weekend away will do the two of you good." He replied, sounding less certain.

"Not for a weekend, Booth. Away on his boat, for many, many months." Brennan confided, not leaving out the worried tone in her voice.

"Months?" Booth said, almost disbelievingly. "That's… long."

"He told me to choose: him or you." Brennan sighed.

"What? Me? Why?" He asked, suddenly feeling uncomfortable.

"I think he's jealous. He thinks…" Brennan felt embarrassed as she said it.

"Thinks what?" Booth pried.

"He thinks he has to compete with you for me, or something. I mean, that's crazy, right?" Brennan said, looking to him for the confirmation she both hoped for and dreaded.

"Right." He scoffed, inwardly his stomach twisted. For a split second, he thought he saw Brennan's face fall, though it was gone so quickly, he doubted whether he saw it at all.

"I'm just worried I'm going to lose him over this. He doesn't understand we're just partners."

"Right, partners." Booth repeated, unsure of what to say. It never occurred to him what he'd do if he ever lost Bones, but it wasn't a pleasant thought.

"He needs to know that how I feel about you is different to how I feel about him." She said, more ranting to herself now than asking Booth's advise.

A few moments of silence passed by, before Booth asked, "How _do_ you feel about me?"

She turned to face him, no words coming to mind. "I guess you're my best friend. I'm comfortable around you, I can talk to you." She answered. Although it was the best answer he felt he could have heard, he felt disappointed, trying hard not to show it though. "If I stayed here, that would never change between us, despite the fact that Sully seems to think that –" She stopped abruptly, biting her lip and instantly regretting her words.

"Thinks what?" He pushed.

"Nothing. It's stupid." She shrugged it off, though his hard look told her to tell him the truth.

"Sully suggested, he told me that you're… well, that you have feelings for me. More than platonic feelings." She admitted, looking to him hopefully, not sure what answer she'd get.

"Wow, Bones, that's, er… that's a loaded statement." Booth exhaled, suddenly feeling quite warm and loosened his tie.

"Sorry, I shouldn't have put you on the spot. We work together, of course you don't have feelings for me –"

"I didn't say that." Booth cut in.

"So… you do have feelings for me?" She asked, confused and slightly scared at where this was taking them.

"I didn't say that either." He warned, looking her in the eye.

She blinked, annoyed by his answers. "Booth, it's got to be one or the other, it can't be both."

Booth needed to think: of course he liked Brennan, he'd been crazy about her for ages now, but she was with Sully. Besides, being with her would defy his no professional/ personal crossover relationship rule. Evidently, it was dangerous for her to be with him, no matter how much he needed her, which is why he regretted it as he said, "Bones, you're my partner and my best guy, but…"

"You wouldn't want to cross that line." She smiled bravely, not showing the disappointment she felt.

"But I don't want you to go." He added, locking eye-contact for a brief moment.

"They'll be others who can be your partner if I go." She replied.

"It wouldn't be the same, Bones." He sighed.

"Booth, I can't… I want Sully and me to work out. To do that, I think I have to go with him." She concluded, feeling as unsure as she sounded.

"Do you love him?" Booth held his breath.

Brennan bit her lip and hesitantly replied, "I could. I could love him and I want to try. Work will still be here when I get back."

Booth felt lie saying 'What about me? I don't want you to go', but he knew he had to put her happiness before his discomfort of having her leave him. No matter how deeply he felt for her, he knew he could never act on it. He could never build a future with her; his life was too dangerous. If anything ever happened to Bones he'd never forgive himself.

"When would you go?" He asked.

"Sully's leaving Tuesday, with or without me." She replied pensively.

He looked at her, realizing she'd already made up her mind. "You're going, aren't you?"

She made eye contact with him. "I have to. There's nothing but work keeping me here and I want more than work in my life."

_Tell her how you feel_, Booth screamed at himself. "But work is… you know, important. You could get rusty."

Brennan smiled. "You're the one always telling me to take a break."

"I meant find a hobby, like knitting." He said, half-joking.

Brennan just smiled. Knowing that Booth would never want anything more than friendship was painful enough without knowing that she would be giving up a real relationship with future for one than would never go anywhere. She couldn't hold out for him forever, it was time for her to stop trying. "I'm going with him."

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	15. Case Closed

Wendy had been found and brought in, forcefully, to the local police when Booth had been immediately informed.

"Wendy, I thought I said stay local." Booth smiled, Dr. Brennan following him into the interrogation room.

"I thought you meant in the country." She said feebly, looking nervous.

"You know what I meant." Booth replied. "You should know, we've arrested Mrs. Garcia with charges of murder, and breaking and entering." Wendy visibly flinched. "We also know that you two are involved, as well as that you both killed Tony." She stayed silent. "You will be charged as an accessory to murder, but you're lucky. You're girlfriend will probably be given life."

"You can't do that! It wasn't her idea!" She shouted.

Booth lowered himself to eye level with Wendy. "Why don't you tell me what happened?" She stayed silent. "Wendy, you're both going to prison, we have evidence and motive. Trust me, judges and jurors are a lot happier with 'guilties' to 'not guilties'. Sentence is shorter."

She broke her silence. "Tony was a bastard, he got what he deserved."

"So he hit you?" Brennan had seen the scorn in her eyes before.

"Not me." She kept her stare low.

So, Mrs. Garcia." Booth concluded, sitting in the opposite chair.

"He went home, always drunk after he had lost money and he would just keep hitting her over and over." Tears slipped down her face, terrified by the brutality.

"So how did you two meet?" Booth asked.

"Betty and I met in an abusive partners website, my old girlfriend had hit me too, and I was still recovering. We started talking everyday and then we finally met. I was in love instantly." She smiled nostalgically. "And she loved me. We needed to be together, but Betty… she was too scared to leave Tony, she kept saying he'd kill her."

"So _you_ suggested you'd kill Tony first." Booth smiled, everything coming together.

"I posed as his girlfriend, keeping him close. On the night we went back to my motel room, Betty had given me the poison and I killed him. I had taken the acrd to frame Brithe just in case, I didn't think anyone would find a buried body in the forest of Brookside." She nodded her head. "We buried him together."

"I think we got everything we need. The state can handle the rest." And then without even looking back at Wendy, they left.

Case closed.


	16. Into The Sunset

It was Tuesday evening, and the sun was setting over the harbour, where Temperance stood before taking the final few steps to Sully's boat. She hadn't moved in ten minutes, hadn't let her presence be known to Sully. She just needed to breath in the sea air and think. She had chosen this, chosen Sully, he was the logical choice, but there was something screaming inside her saying that she was making a huge mistake.

_No, this isn't a mistake, Sully is a good man. I need to make this work._ She took a deep cleansing breath and took her first step forward.

"Bones!" She heard an echo in the distance, at first thinking it was her mind playing tricks on her, but turned when the voice repeated her name. There, Booth was running towards her, Brennan's voice caught in her throat. Booth stopped right in front of her "Booth, what's wrong? I'm not working anymore –"

"Screw work." Booth said, clasping her hands in his. "Here's the thing... don't go."

"What? Why not?" Brennan asked impatiently, slightly worried that something was wrong with Angela or Hodgens or something.

"I need you to stay, it wouldn't be the same without you." He confessed, still slowly gasping for breath.

She sighed. "But it would be the same if I stayed. With Sully, I have a relationship that's moving somewhere. I won't deny I have feelings for you, Booth, but I can't put my life on hold for you when I know nothing's going to happen." Bones admitted, suddenly wishing he hadn't come at all.

"Bones, I spend all of yesterday thinking about this, about you, I couldn't think of anything else." He admitted, smiling self-consciously. "And of course I have feelings for you. Why do you think I've liked Sully less since he started dating you? He saw that I liked you and I didn't believe him until I thought I'd lost you to him." He confessed.

She stood dumbfounded, though sighed as she took all he said in. "Doesn't change your rule though. We will never be together Booth, you've declared it impossible. Besides, you have lost me, I'm with Sully now. I will _always_ be your partner and if I don't leave, I won't be able to accept that that's all we'll ever be." She said this with a tone of sadness in her voice.

"If you left, I wouldn't be able to get over you. Stay, be my partner." Booth almost pleaded.

"I can't. Knowing all I'll ever be is your partner makes it harder to stay. I need to get away." Temperance sighed, how had her life come to this?

"Bones," He cupped her face in his warm hands and leant in to kiss her. She responded, giving into him, feeling everything she expected to: warmth, compassion and comfort. Softly, he pulled away, keeping her close, whispering, "I can't let you go."

Brennan slowly opened her eyes, hardly believing that Booth had kissed her. For a few moments, she couldn't form words. "I… now? You chose to do this now?" Her confusion turning to anger.

"Better late than never?" Booth offered, smiling innocently.

"No, Booth, this is… impractical, this wouldn't work. Inwardly, we both know this, we just have to be adults and –" Her rambling was cut off by another unexpected kiss, this time short and forceful.

"Bones, be quiet." He smiled.

She grinned. "Ok." She wrapped her arms around him, feeling him pull her hips closer to his, comforted and slightly scared by her feelings. In his embrace, she felt everything she'd never felt with Sully, and everything she'd imagined with Booth. She had never really needed to decide, it was Booth who had to cross the line and find her at the finish.

As the sun set behind them, feeding purples, pinks and oranges blaring in the sky, and Booth's lips on hers, Brennan knew that this was to be a whole new beginning to their relationship and one she couldn't wait to start.

THE END

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